The RAHC has two buildings in Harlingen in addition to research branches at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg and the University of Texas-Brownsville. It is part of a growing medical complex in Harlingen that includes two hospitals, a veterans care center now being expanded and a comprehensive health clinic.

“We are ready for the next step,” Boswell said, noting that Harlingen was celebrating its centennial and that a medical school “would figure prominently” in the city's second century.

Consultants and UT System officials, however, were clear that a medical school in the Valley was far from a done deal.

Legislation carried by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, recognizes the Valley as part of a deep South Texas region that lags in the ratio of doctors to residents and authorizes the system's board of regents to develop a health science center there. But it did not provide what his son, state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, admitted would be a “scary” chunk of funding for a medical school.

“I don't want anyone to have any delusions when it comes to the challenges,” said Dr. David Altman, one of the team of consultants commissioned by the city. “This is not a sprint, this is a marathon, and it's the beginning of the marathon today.”

Approval and funding for a medical school in El Paso came after years of expanding residency programs at area hospitals, he said, and it will be crucial for the Valley to do the same.

What's more, the Valley will have to prove that a 12-county region including Corpus Christi is on board to provide funding beyond state coffers and help take on the tasks of recruiting faculty and students and getting the school accredited.

Dr. Kenneth Shine, UT's executive vice chancellor for health affairs, said UT officials would not sign on to a plan that requires begging for money from the Legislature each biennium.

“You can't tell them that every two years there ‘may' be some funding,” he said, adding, “It's a big hill. I think it's a hill we can climb, but we will need everybody's support.”